Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 651 – Her Gaze Is Far Away, at the Other Side

Far in the distance, by Xining Village’s old temple, the stream was silent.

The Tianhai Divine Empress gazed at the monk across the stream and said, “You should know very clearly just who I have always been wary of.”

The prayer beads in the monk’s palm ceased their movements. His eyes still closed, the monk indifferently replied, “They have never gone to the other side, so they naturally cannot contemplate what you have contemplated.”

She replied, “I also have never been.”

At this time, she was still at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, but her gaze was here, tens of thousands of li away.

No matter how far, as long as they were connected through this world with her Qi, her soul could personally come.

This was the her standing by the stream.

The monk pondered her response and replied, “That is reasonable.”

The Tianhai Divine Empress asked, “Is this not the situation you most desired to see?”

The monk replied, “I never imagined to see anything when making this plan.”

The Divine Empress calmly gazed at him and asked, “Are you Crown Prince Jiancheng’s son? Grandson?”

The monk’s face revealed a nostalgic expression. After a moment of silence, he softly answered, “Crown Prince Jiancheng is my father.”

The Divine Empress’s brows rose as she asked, “We do not understand—why did you exiled imperials join hands with him? After all, he is Emperor Taizong’s black dog.”

The monk slowly said, “Ultimately, even the greatest resentment cannot surpass time or the desire to return home. We wish to return.”

The Tianhai Divine Empress asked, “But did you not think that you could be the vanguard of the other race?”

After some silence, the monk shook his head and replied, “We descendants of imperials are not the other race. This is our homeland; no person has the right to obstruct our return.”

The Divine Empress replied, “And you are so sure that the other race on that continent will not have other ideas?”

The monk fell silent, ceasing to speak.

The limpid waters of the stream had long since been frozen by their two powerful souls.

The lotuses formed from blood drifted west and then east in the stream. The trees by the stream would occasionally move in the wind or become still despite it.

……

……

With a bout of autumn rain, a sudden chill, the grass that yesterday was still very green now turned completely yellow.

Daoist Ji stood in the grass that didn’t even reach up to his knees. Sensing the distance between him and that black jade ruyi, he once more turned to the Mausoleum of Books and said, “Just abdicate. Like Su Li, leave this world.”

The Tianhai Divine Empress drew back her gaze from the stream in the far-off Xining Village and replied, “Those sons of mine wish to be Emperor, Chen Guansong wants to leave his name on the annals of history, Yin has been trapped by the words ‘the benefit of mankind’, the White Emperor wanted to fight a battle with the Demon Lord, but what of you? From beginning to end, I never understood just what you wanted to accomplish by doing so many things.”

Daoist Ji expressionlessly replied. “This is His Majesty Emperor Taizong’s dying wish, and you also once promised me and my junior brother that you would return the throne to the Chen clan.”

The Divine Empress replied, “I only have one son and he suffered the wrath of the heavens. In my womb, his sun wheel was destroyed.”

Saying this, she glanced at Chen Changsheng, then glanced at some place in the Mausoleum of Books.

“No matter which one is my son, perhaps pure and kind, or simple, or a fool, or a cripple, if he ascends to the imperial throne, who will reign over this world?”

The Tianhai Divine Empress gazed in the direction of the autumn plains and mocked, “At that time, who will the true emperor be? Those good-for-nothings and scoundrels, or you?”

Daoist Ji was silent, not answering this question.

The wind blew across the wilderness, shaking the yellowed grass. They seemed like rice paddies, but they gave off no sweet aroma, only the stench of decay after being rotted away in the rain.

“Saying so many uninteresting words, seeing so many uninteresting people and affairs, in the end, all of you still have to kill Us.”

With these words, the Tianhai Divine Empress finally moved.

She took one step forward, and the hands that had always been clasped behind her slowly spread apart.

Not a single drop of rain fell from the night sky, but when she opened her hands, several drops of rain, carried along by some wind from parts unknown, fell in her palm.

She lowered her head to gaze at those crystalline drops of water like pearls in her palm, then she raised her head once more to the world that had already vexed her to the extreme.

“So, who dares to kill Us?”

……

……

Tonight’s situation had already undergone world-shaking transformations.

With the silencing of the Imperial Design, the sounds of killing rose in all parts of the capital, along with occasional sparks and columns of fire. In the distant plains, some armies were still like stone statues guarding a tomb while others were in the midst of turmoil. This world had already left the Divine Empress’s control. Even those ministers most loyal to her and her own household had chosen to abandon her.

Without question, the situation she faced had already become nasty to the extreme.

Yet she did not shrink back in the slightest. Looking at the supreme experts around the Mausoleum of Books, all her enemies in the world, she asked this question.

Who dares to kill Us?

These five words were tyrannical to the extreme, arrogant to the extreme. They resounded through the quiet Mausoleum of Books and the streets of the capital, echoing on and on without end, yet from beginning to end, no one dared respond.

After quite some time, a sound finally rose up.

This was the sound of a flagstone being rolled over, a sound very much like the clacking of teeth, and also like the sound of bones bearing a massive weight.

Kakakaka.

Zhu Luo stood up from his wheelchair, his gaze traveling up the white Divine Path until ultimately resting on the peak of the Mausoleum of Books.

“Let me try.”

When he said those three words, there was no sense of passion, only flatness, as mild as water.

Perhaps because he clearly knew what his end would be, or perhaps because after he opened Su Li’s letter in the Myriad Willows Garden, he had always been waiting for the end.

Zhu Luo, one of the Storms of the Eight Directions, Sect Master of the Emotion-Severing Sect, an important figure of Tianliang County. Just as Su Li had said in Xunyang City, he could die, but he could not lose.

Now, he had already lost and been crippled, so what was there to pity about his death?

He had come to the capital tonight precisely so that he could die. He wished to use his death to obtain the greatest benefit for his clan and sect.

“What do you want?”

Daoist Ji’s voice came from the distance. It was no longer at the autumn plain to the north of the capital but now seemed even farther.

Zhu Luo used his left hand to grip the sword at his waist as he expressionlessly declared, “I want the Wang clan to never rise again.”

He did not say which Wang clan, but everyone knew of the Wang clan that he spoke of.

The Wang clan of Tianliang County had long since declined. Now, only one person remained.

Zhu Luo’s demand to never have the Wang clan rise again was precisely targeted at that man and that blade.

Daoist Ji’s voice did not speak for a few moments. Only after a while did he finally give a response.

It was very obvious that this demand Zhu Luo made on the verge of death was one that even Daoist Ji felt rather troublesome.

“Very well, I promise you.”

At this, Zhu Luo’s face finally revealed some emotion and his body was drawn up even straighter.

He walked forward, and when his slow steps fell on the shallow accumulation of water on the stone plain, they gradually began to form a distinct tempo.

He arrived at the base of the Divine Path and slowly unsheathed his sword.

A powerful Qi rose up with the unsheathing of this bright sword, spreading out and filling the world.